Women & Infants Honors Nurses During National Nurses Week

Release Date: 06/02/2015

The 2015 Mary Dowd Struck Award was presented to Christina Ribeiro-Ourique, RN, BSN, of Coventry. Ribeiro-Ourique has been a nurse with Women & Infants for 12 years. Her peers seek her out as a clinical resource, but also turn to her for her high level of professionalism. One colleague said, “Christina believes in a team-approach to patient care and works collaboratively with all members of the multidisciplinary team.” The Mary Dowd Struck Award for Excellence in Nursing was established by the Women & Infants Board of Trustees in 2006 to honor the hospital’s former vice president of patient care services. The Award honors a nurse annually for exemplifying clinical excellence, professional collegiality, patient and family advocacy, and passion for women’s and newborn health.

The 2015 Carol Opiekun Scholarship Award was presented to Heather Murphy, RN, BSN, of Warwick, who has worked with Women & Infants for 17 years. Murphy is a nurse on the fourth floor oncology unit. “One might think that being in the field of oncology is sad and sometimes it is, but really it is rewarding to be a part of the most intimate parts of people’s lives,” said Murphy. With the scholarship, Murphy hopes to finish her Family Nurse Practitioner degree program with her “thirst for more clinical know how.” The Carol Opiekun Scholarship was established in 2012 as a means of supporting the continuing education efforts of nurses at Women & Infants Hospital.

Leslie Rosa, RN, of Norton, MA, a nurse in the Division of Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery, received the 2015 Home Loan Unsung Hero Award, given annually to a nurse who performs heroic acts above and beyond the scope of their regular jobs. Rosa was nominated by her colleagues for her efforts in organizing a clothing drive for domestic violence victims in her department. The clothes collected help victims who have to turn over their clothes as evidence for further investigation in their case.

About Women & Infants Hospital

Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, a Care New England hospital, is one of the nation’s leading specialty hospitals for women and newborns. A major teaching affiliate of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University for obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics, as well as a number of specialized programs in women’s medicine, Women & Infants is the 9th largest stand-alone obstetrical service in the country and the largest in New England with approximately 8,500 deliveries per year. A Designated Baby-Friendly® USA hospital, U.S.News & World Report 2014-15 Best Children’s Hospital in Neonatology and a 2014 Leapfrog Top Hospital, in 2009 Women & Infants opened what was at the time the country’s largest, single-family room neonatal intensive care unit.

Women & Infants and Brown offer fellowship programs in gynecologic oncology, maternal-fetal medicine, urogynecology and reconstructive pelvic surgery, neonatal-perinatal medicine, pediatric and perinatal pathology, gynecologic pathology and cytopathology, and reproductive endocrinology and infertility. It is home to the nation’s first mother-baby perinatal psychiatric partial hospital, as well as the nation’s only fellowship program in obstetric medicine.